US authorities tell Scottish official Masud was taken to custody “lawfully”
U.S. authorities have told the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government that Abu Agila Masud, a former Libyan intelligence officer suspected of being the Lockerbie bomb maker, was taken into custody “lawfully”. Masud appeared in a federal court in Washington on Monday accused of building the bomb that downed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people. “I simply repeat that Scottish prosecutors and law enforcement stand ready to afford all possible co-operation to our US partners in accordance with the rule of law,” she added. It is unclear how how the US negotiated Mr Masud’s extradition from Libya. Reports have said he was kidnapped by militia groups in Libya last month.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 21:50 UTC
Things to know today: FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried arrested, charged; Musk disbands Trust and Safety group; winter storm update
Alex BrandonOne year ago: The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection voted to pursue contempt charges against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; lawmakers also revealed a series of frantic texts he received as the attack was under way, in which members of Congress, Fox News anchors and even President Donald Trump’s son urged Meadows to push Trump to act quickly to stop the siege by his supporters. (The House voted to hold Meadows in contempt, but the Justice Department declined to prosecute.)
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 18:51 UTC
12 new people test positive for Coronavirus in Libya
12 new people tested positive for COVID-19, marking 4 percent of the infection rate, according to a Tuesday report by the National Center for Disease Control in Libya (NCDC). The center also said 30 have recovered during the same reporting period. The total recorded COVID-19 cases in Libya have exceeded more than 500,000 since the start of the pandemic, while over 490,000 of which have recovered, according to the NCDC. The virus has claimed the lives of 6,437 people. Over two million people received one dose of the vaccination, while more than one million others were vaccinated with two doses.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 18:31 UTC
In Libya, Mystery Shrouds Handover of Lockerbie Suspect to U.S.
The transfer of a Libyan suspect to the United States to stand trial in the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing has stoked tensions in Libya, where some in the divided country saw the handover, under murky circumstances, as an abduction rather than an extradition. The United States said on Sunday that the F.B.I. American prosecutors say that Mr. Mas’ud delivered to accomplices the suitcase containing the bomb used in the attack. It was not immediately clear who had handed Mr. Mas’ud over to the Americans. But the possibility that a militia turned him over or that the interim government did so to shore up American support were criticized in some corners of Libya.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 18:23 UTC
OPEC agrees to cancel Libya’s debt
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has agreed to write off Libya’s accumulated debts, estimated at 20 million Libyan dinars, Libya’s Ministry of Oil and Gas announced on Monday. OPEC’s Ministerial Council made the decision during its 109th meeting hosted by Kuwait, in the presence of Libya’s Oil Minister Mohamed Aoun, according to the Libyan ministry.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 18:07 UTC
UK Court Convicts Three for Defrauding Libyan Sovereign Fund
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Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 17:53 UTC
Rival Libya PM calls for US to release Lockerbie accused
ArrowRight American authorities said Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimihad been arrested and would face trial in the United States. At all.”AdvertisementTorn by civil war since 2011, Libya is divided between two rival governments, each backed by international patrons and numerous armed militias on the ground. American authorities in December 2020 announced charges against Mas’ud, who was in Libyan custody at the time. American authorities in December 2020 announced charges against Mas’ud, who was in Libyan custody at the time. That reporting cited a family statement that accused Tripoli authorities of being silent on the abduction.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 17:11 UTC
Lockerbie bombing suspect makes first court appearance in DC federal court
The court scheduled a pre-trial detention hearing on December 27 to give Mas’ud time to retain counsel. Lockerbie bombing suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, seated in green, appeared in federal court in Washington, DC, on Monday, December 12. “It’s a tremendous amount of satisfaction,” she said of being at the court for Mas’ud’s initial appearance. The US charged Mas’ud for his alleged involvement in the bombing two years ago, a spokesman for the UK Crown Office and Prosecutor Fiscal Service previously told CNN. Megrahi was sentenced in 2001 to 27 years in prison, but was released from prison after being diagnosed with cancer.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 16:41 UTC
UN envoy reiterates support to Libyan Presidential Council's political initiative
CAIRO – 13 December 2022: Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Abdoulaye Bathily voiced Sunday his full support to the initiative, launched by the Presidential Council to overcome the political deadlock and reach national consensus in Libya. This came during a phone call made by Bathily to Libyan Presidential Council Head Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi, in which they probed the latest developments in the country. Bathily urged all the Libyan political factions to quickly respond to the presidential initiative in order to reach a comprehensive national consensus to resolve the Libyan crisis and hold parliamentary and presidential elections in the country. US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland stressed that the vast majority of the international community, including the United States, supports a Libyan-led solution. In another tweet, the US envoy said "The United States supports UNSMIL's efforts to have Libyan leaders meet in Libya to make crucial decisions for the stability and prosperity of Libyans.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 15:32 UTC
College basketball coach arrested on assault charge, full list of Golden Globe nominees, and more trending news
The charge is a third-degree felony in Texas, with a possible punishment of two to 10 years in prison. Read more of the story here:Golden Globe Nominations 2023The nominees for the 80th Golden Globe Awards were announced on Monday. Favored Oscars contender "The Banshees of Inisherin" led the film categories, with nominations including best musical or comedy film. Researchers for decades have attempted to recreate nuclear fusion -- replicating the fusion that powers the sun. Find out more here:***Get more on today's trending topics here:Winter stormElon Musk'The White Lotus'
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 14:04 UTC
Republic Day honours: Robert Arrigo’s service to sport, politics and tourism recognised
Former Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo was posthumously awarded the medal for service to the Republic during the Republic Day investiture ceremony in Valletta. The President appointed seven members to The National Order of Merit and 10 other individuals were awarded the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika. In 2008, elected from both the 9th and 10th districts, Cristina was appointed education minister. Dr Zrinzo was instrumental in setting up the Malta National Breast Screening Programme, which has been in place since 2009. She chaired the Steering Committee for Malta’s National Post-COVID Strategy and occupied various other senior roles at governmental level.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 13:59 UTC
Libya Invites Oil Majors To Produce More Oil And Gas
The country had easily been able to produce around 1.65 million bpd of mostly high-quality light, sweet crude oil and production had been on a rising production trend, up from about 1.4 million bpd in 2000. Given this plan, there appeared scope to increase crude oil production up to the 2.1 million bpd targeted by Libya’s minister of gas and oil, Mohamed Aoun, and to hit the informal interim target of 1.6 million bpd by the end of 2023. It is apposite to remember as well at this point that Libya still has around 48 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves – the largest in Africa. Preceding that month, a broad-based blockade of Libya’s energy infrastructure had caused its oil production to plummet from around 1.2 million bpd to less than 100,000 bpd at one point. Overall, during that wave of blockades and shutdowns, Libya was losing around 550,000 bpd of its oil production.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 13:41 UTC
Rights group claims EU ‘complicit’ in Libya’s migrants abuse
CAIRO: Human Rights Watch on Monday accused the European Union’s border and coast guard agency of being complicit in migrant abuses by Libya by allowing the North African country’s coast guard to intercept migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean Sea for southern Europe. Following a data-based investigation repor t released by the New York-based watchdog last Thursday, it concluded that the agency, known as Frontex, uses its aerial surveillance technology to help Libyan forces locate migrant boats — rather than other rescue organisations or merchant ships also patrolling the Mediterranean. Every year, thousands of migrants hoping to reach Europe make their way through Libya, where a lucrative trafficking and smuggling business has flourished in a country fragmented for years between rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by different armed groups and foreign governments.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 12:08 UTC
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It’s alleged the Lockerbie bombing suspect confessed. But how did he end up in U.S. hands?
The purported mastermind, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, was convicted in 2001 and received compassionate release in 2012 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Ma’sud, 71, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on charges of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death. Mas’ud and Megrahi travelled from Malta to Tripoli together on Dec. 21, 1988, the day of the Lockerbie air disaster. That then knocks a hole in the case against Megrahi,” he said by telephone from Brighton, England. “If you take away the Malta suitcase connection then there’s no case at all.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 12:07 UTC
Lockerbie bombing suspect makes first US court appearance
Two other Libyan intelligence officials have been charged for the 1988 attack, but Mas'ud was the first defendant to appear in American court. The New York-bound Pan Am flight exploded over Lockerbie less than an hour after takeoff from London on Dec. 21, 1988. At the time, Mas'ud was in Libyan custody. The announcement was a career bookend for Barr, who in his first stint as attorney general in the early 1990s had announced criminal charges against two other Libyan intelligence officials. That affidavit said Mas'ud told Libyan law enforcement that he flew to Malta to meet al-Megrahi and Fhimah.
Source:Libya Today
December 13, 2022 10:57 UTC